Pedro Mojica Jr. is having the time of his life this summer in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The 21-year old senior, who is majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio, is one of 20 college students from across the United States who has been selected to participate in the 2011 NASCAR Diversity Internship Program this summer.

Mojica, who graduated from Edison High School is Killeen, is completing a 10-week, paid summer internship that gives minority college students the opportunity to work in various capacities within the NASCAR industry.

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity,” Mojica said. “For a young man like me, it’s a dream come true coming from a little city like Killeen. Just being here, traveling, meeting people, getting paid and being on the competition side, it really is a dream come true for me.”
Mojica has spent the summer interning with the NASCAR’s GRAND-AM Competition Series in Daytona Beach.

During the first three weeks of his internship, Mojica has spent his time working on a computer program called Top Speed Macro for Microsoft Excel. His duties included collecting data from the track and typing it into a spreadsheet. He said after a pressing a button on the computer, the macro then sorts all data that shows the car’s fastest speed as it relates to the driver’s best 10-lap average.

UTSA engineering student Pedro Mojica Jr. of Killeen is working as an intern this summer with the GRAND-AM Series in Daytona Beach, Florida. Photo courtesy of NASCAR.

“It’s been a great experience for sure, Mojica said. “Everything that I’ve been working on I’ve been real excited about, especially when I’ve been analyzing the data for NASCAR and the GRAND-AM Series.

Mojica said was able to attend the Rolex Sports Car Series 250 Driven by VisitFlorida.com race held on June 23-25 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.

While at Road America, he collected Bosch data from every car and uploaded it into the main computer system. He was then able to export Bosch data for different cars and import it to Microsoft Excel 2007.

“After the officials impounded the top-five cars after they qualified for the race, I was able to collect data from their cars,” Mojica said. “I was able to analyze the data for fuel mileage and consumption during the race and fining the minimum speed in the corners.”

Mojica added, “I got to go out on pit road for the Rolex race and they had me making sure that everyone was doing the right thing in the pit box regarding the rules. I was out there for about half of the race and then I went into the impound area to collect data from the race. The entire experience was incredible.”

Mojica said his interest in NASCAR and racing started at the age of seven.

“I got into it one day when my dad was flipping through the channels and he just left it on one of the races,” Mojica said. “Back then I had a little thing for red cars and they had a red car on television and I thought it was cool. From there I started following it little by little and eventually in 1997 I watched a fall Bristol race and I got hooked on it right then and there. Jeff Gordon ended up becoming my favorite driver and from that day forward and I had a sport that I could follow.”

Mojica added, “Earlier this year I signed up for the mentorship that NASCAR has with their Diversity Program and I was accepted. I got to attend the races in Fort Worth and I got a Hot Pass with access to the track. That was neat to be there and experience all of that, especially being a fan of the sport and to know so much about it. It definitely was like a dream come true.”

Pedro Mojica Jr., an engineering major at UTSA, is one of 20 college students who are participating in the NASCAR Diversity Internship program this summer. Photo courtesy of NASCAR.

NASCAR officials said the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program is currently in its 12th year. Since the program started in 2000, interns like Mojica have gained experience working in engineering, public relations, marketing, diversity and public affairs and licensing. Several participants who have completed the program have gone on to landing full-time positions within the NASCAR industry.

“The NASCAR Diversity Internship Program has played a vital role in introducing hundreds of students from diverse backgrounds to professional opportunities in NASCAR and across the motorsports industry,” said Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development. “The program is creating fresh interest in the motorsports industry among some of the best and brightest students across the nation.”

Officials said the program features internships offered by NASCAR offices, sponsors, licensees, teams, tracks and broadcast partners. In addition to NASCAR and GRAND-AM corporate offices in Daytona Beach, Fla., Charlotte, N.C. and New York, the following companies are participating in 2011: SPEED, Revolution Racing, International Speedway Corporation (ISC), Daytona International Speedway, Catalyst Public Relations and Octagon.

Mojica’s intern class began their NASCAR experience with an orientation session during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. They visited the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NASCAR Media Group offices, the Sam Bass NASCAR Art Gallery, Revolution Racing headquarters, attended the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

The #5 and #9 Porsche/Riley and Action Express Racing cars from the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series were two of the cars that Mojica was able to collected data from at the race at Road America back in June. Photo courtesy of the Rolex Sports Car Series.

In addition, many in the group have with a number of key people in the NASCAR industry including NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew members, drivers and NASCAR executives. They even attend the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona in early July.

“This internship is one big step in the right direction for me to achieve my goal, which is to actually be involved with NASCAR whether it is on a race team or whether it is on the competition side like the GRAND-AM Series,” Mojica said. “Hopefully this experience will lead me to the right direction and give me an opportunity once I am done with school.”

Each year, college students like Mojica who are sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate students are able to apply for the program. To be eligible, students must be in good standing with their school and community and have a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. NASCAR awards diversity scholarships in tribute to NASCAR legend Wendell Scott.

“My future goal is to finish out school and maybe apply again for another NASCAR Diversity Internship or do an internship with a GRAND-AM team,” Mojica said. “I’ve talked to some teams at the track and they seem like they might be interested in me being an intern over the summer next year. Hopefully things will go well and I’ll have another internship next summer.”

Mojica said that after he graduates from UTSA, he hopes to one day be part of a race team as an engineer setting up the cars either at the tracks or at the shops. He also said that after participating in the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program, he would also like to maybe work for the competition side of NASCAR or the GRAND-AM Series.

“This program is very beneficial to someone like me who is majoring in mechanical engineering,” Mojica said. “The experience is huge and it’s something that can never be replaced.”